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Demon Deacons can’t shake tournament woes

GREENSBORO — There were just too many similarities between this year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament opener and last year’s for Wake Forest.

The 10th-seeded Deacons were playing Maryland, just like in last year’s first-round game. Maryland was coming into the tournament after suffering an overtime loss to Virginia in the final game of the regular season, just like last year. And Wake Forest coach Jeff Bdzelik, much like last year, entered the game on the proverbial hot seat as some Wake Forest fans voiced their displeasure through an ad in a local newspaper.

The result was similar as well as the seventh-seeded Terrapins recorded a 75-62 victory over the Deacons Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Maryland (21-11) advances to play second-seeded Duke tonight at 7 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup. The loss ends the season for the Deacons at 13-18, the same record as last year.

Another scene that has become all-too familiar with Wake fans is a lack of success in the ACC Tournament. The Deacons dropped their seventh straight game in the ACC Tournament and this marked the sixth straight year Wake Forest has lost its tournament opener. Wake Forest hasn’t tasted victory in the tournament since a double-overtime win over Georgia Tech in 2007.

“The things we did in the first half to get a lead, we didn’t do in the second half,” Bzdelik said of a five-point halftime advantage that featured just five turnovers and 13 points from C.J. Harris in his final game at Wake Forest. “We turned the ball over (nine second-half turnovers) and we coupled that with missing free throws and the game got away from us.”

Wake Forest was in the game until a deadly drought cost the Deacons any chance of advancing. A basket by Wake’s Madison Jones at the 9:58 mark gave the Deacons their final lead of the game at 51-50. The Deacons went the next 8:32 without a field goal, and after the game was tied at 54-54 with just over 7 minutes to play, the Terrapins went on a 16-4 run to gain control.

“We were pretty good (defensively) and they had some shots that went a long ways down and out,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “Our guys were locked in defensively and we did a better job on Harris.”

Harris did not have a field goal in the second half, missing all four attempts.

“This is a big disappointment, not only for us but the Wake Forest community,” Wake Forest freshman Devin Thomas said after the Deacons lost their seventh straight game to Maryland in the tournament, having not recorded a win over the Terrapins since 1963.

A basket by Alex Len at the 7:14 mark put the Terrapins ahead for good at 56-54. After one free throw from Wake’s Arnaud Adala Moto made it 56-55, Pe’Shon Howard hit a 3-pointer and Charles Mitchell followed with a three-point play and the Deacons never recovered.

Wake Forest was just 12 of 21 from the free-throw line.

“I thought we were careless and not real sharp offensively,” Bzdelik said of the drought. “We tried to force too many things on the break and we had wasted possessions.”

Wake Forest, which is now 42-56 in the tournament, including a 16-22 mark at the Greensboro Coliseum, trailed by six with 3:47 to play before the Terps scored six straight points to ice the win.